Lasagne
Everyone has their own lasagne variety, this uses the Best Bolognese Ever as the meat base, plus a cheat white sauce rather than a full Bechamel, as it is quicker to put together and tastes amazing.
Equipment
- Large, deep oven-proof dish
Ingredients
Meat Base
- 4 portion Best Bolognese Ever About ⅓ of this big batch Best Bolognese Ever
Simple White Sauce
- 100 g Butter or margarine
- 100 g Plain flour
- ½ tsp Celery Salt
- 1 litre Milk Whole milk (with the butter option for higher fat), skimmed milk (with the margarine option for lower fat)
Layers
- 100 g Cheddar cheese Grated (low fat cheese for lower fat option, or only choose one of the cheeses)
- 100 g Mozzarella cheese Grated (low fat cheese for lower fat option, or only choose one of the cheeses)
- 8 sheets Lasagne Fresh is best, see notes.
Instructions
Cheat White Sauce
- Melt the butter or margarine in a pan then add the plain flour a few spoonfuls at a time, stirring continuously until a paste forms, called a roux. It should be thick enough that when you draw a spoon through it a line is left, for a brief time, and then the mix gloops back over the bottom of the pan. Add more butter/flour to get to the right consistency if needed. Cook it for 2 minutes then stir in the celery salt.
- Add the milk gradually, constantly stirring (or whisking if you have a balloon whisk), until you get a smooth sauce of the thickness you want (add more milk if it's too thick). Season to taste.
Layer It Up
- Pre-heat the oven to 150C.
- Add half of the Best Bolognese Ever to the bottom of the lasagne dish, then add a layer of lasagne, sealing around the edges of the dish if you can. Add half of the white sauce, then the remaining half of the Best Bolognese Ever, another layer of lasagne and then the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top, then put it all in the oven for an hour until it's heated through and the cheese is bubbling.
Notes
The number of lasagne sheets depends on the size of your dish, this is based on dry pasta and a large rectangle dish. Fresh lasagne is best for layering and freezing as it curves around the sides of the dish nicely, creating a good seal. Dried lasagne sheets can be used but only one layer, and you’ll likely need to snap them to fit them to the dish.
I absolutely adore my mum’s lasagne, it used to take her a whole morning to cook it as she always mega-batch cooked 3 big lasagnes for 12 people, and always boiled over the milk for the béchamel 3 times in a row and had to start again (really!). This version is a lot quicker as it’s not a full béchamel, and with the extra mozzarella tastes amazing.
Mum’s 3 big lasagnes were left to cool and then frozen, transported for holidays, then left out overnight to defrost and cooked the next evening for an extended family feast. Always amazing, still love it, thanks mum!
Lasagne in dish Kids lasagne in oven Lasagne in freezer
